HEBDEN resident David Joy relates the fascinating saga of a recent discovery – and the questions it posed.

AN historic milestone that had long lain undiscovered alongside an old road in Hebden has been discovered.

Jonathan Longthorne, of the haulage contractors Longthorne of Hebden, was undertaking some drainage work when it came to light lying flat on the ground.

He has put it back in place, where it will undoubtedly intrigue walkers taking the path heading north-west out of the village towards Garnshaw and Edge Lane.

It could have lain on the ground for most of the intervening period, but the lettering has largely survived.

A finger points the way to ‘Grifsington’ and the bottom line is ‘Pateleybridg’ with the final ‘e’ missing.

Two key questions being asked about the stone: why is Grassington spelt ‘Grifsington’ and how old is it?

Taking the easiest first, part of the answer lies in the use of the "long s", very similar to today’s "f", which was once standard with words that would now use a double "ss".

It went out of favour and fashion in the 1790s, but continued in more formal use for at least another 60 years. Charlotte Brontë writing to a friend in 1848 referred to the novelist Jane Austen as "Mifs Austen".

But why "Grifsington" and not "Grafsington"?

Writing the first serious history of Craven in 1805, the haughty cleric Thomas Whitaker noted that Grassington was variously written as "Garsington", "Gersinton" or "Girsington" and was "vulgarly pronounced Girston" (as was the case until quite recently when dialect was more commonly spoken).

This is the explanation. It was still an age when correct spelling was rarely important, and whoever carved the stone would put what seemed right.

So how old is the milestone? If there were no other evidence, the use of "Grifsington" would indicate that it was earlier than the 1790s when double "ss" was widely adopted.

But in fact it is known that the ancient road on which it stands rapidly fell out of use after 1760 when contracts were let to build a new turnpike from Pateley Bridge to Grassington that cut through Hebden in a straight line. It replaced the much more winding route through the village, so the milestone is definitely earlier than 1760.

This earlier road was nevertheless one of the most important highways in the Dales, described in 1631 as providing a vital link "between most parts of Craven and the market towns of Ripon, Knaresborough and the City of York".

Its upkeep through Hebden was the responsibility of the Surveyor of the Highways, a post that the village was legally obliged to make under an Act of Parliament of 1565. His duties became more onerous in 1697 when surveyors were "ordered to erect guideposts at cross-highways and on the moors".

The milestone would be erected soon afterwards. Its finger pointing towards "Grifsington" would guide east to west travellers who after taking a tortuous route through the village may not have been quite certain how to proceed. It is therefore almost certainly over 300 years old and a remarkable survivor.